Spain and Central Asia

Central Asia holds a complicated place in Spanish foreign policy. Considering Spain’s low profile both in Asia and Eastern Europe, there is a striking fluidity in relations with Kazakhstan and, in previous years, with Uzbekistan.

In fact, Central Asia was one of Spain’s priorities during its EU presidency in the first half of 2010. Although it may seem surprising, this interest was actually the result of three years of reinforcement of bilateral relations with Astana and Tashkent, ever since the Spanish presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2007.

In 2010, the year that Spain held the presidency of the EU, Kazakhstan was chair of the OSCE and Uzbekistan was head of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Spanish government hoped that the three coinciding presidencies could help it to consolidate the role of Spain in Central Asia.

However, high expectations went largely unfulfilled, and two years later, relations have cooled notably, particularly with Uzbekistan.